A word of warning to all you jaded, politically correct readers out there: This op-ed piece is not for you. Go read the New York Times.
This piece is written by a grateful immigrant. A legal one, but an immigrant nonetheless.
I was born in Haifa, Israel.
I emigrated to America with my mother, Florence, when I was a child. My mother was a survivor of the Nazi Germany concentration camps of World War II. She was in the camps when she was 14 years old.
If it weren’t for America and the brave sacrifices of its military, my mother and millions of others would have perished.
After the war, my mother found her way to Israel.
Life was hard, but in Israel - finally - there was a place where people didn’t try to kill you just because of your religious persuasion. You could breathe fresh, free air and not be afraid to say “I’m a Jew.”
When I was 8 1/2 years old, my mother took me by the hand, and we emigrated to America. The land of the free. The home of the brave. The land of hopes and dreams.
When we landed in New York, I was simply awed by the majesty that is America. The skyscrapers. Television. Streets full of cars. It was too much to take in all at once.
I soon became an unabashed, unapologetic, dyed-in-the-wool American who believes in standing at attention when the Stars and Strips flies at full mast. To this day, I proudly say the Pledge of Allegiance and sing the national anthem. And I am ashamed when some natural-born citizens of America don’t.
That last phrase makes some native-born Americans uneasy. Being patriotic has become politically incorrect. I refuse to succumb to a numb apathy that seems to pervade some elements of the media and pop culture.
For me, it’s all too real. If it weren’t for America, my mother wouldn’t be alive. If it weren’t for America, this world would be in chaos.
Too politically simplistic, you say? Too black-and-white?
Actually, it’s profoundly true, and it’s time for all Americans to proudly recognize those facts.
I want to be blunt about a message to America:
In the Middle East, you have no greater friend, no greater ally - than Israel. It owes its very existence to America.
A simple political message?
I stand by every word of it.
Op-ed pieces from immigrants in newspapers and statements on television are a good idea. Listen to what we have to say. Hear the gratitude and love for America we all share.
Wake up to what we all have to say: America is the greatest country on Earth.
And finally, thank you for making a poor immigrant boy’s dreams come true.
I found this on the Gene Simmons web site.
Godfather.
Yeah it must be bullshit.. I mean who could ever feel this way about America ? :roll:
Chaim Weitz (later Gene Simmons) was born at the Rambam Hospital in Haifa, Israel in 1949. Mother and child emigrated to Jackson Heights, Queens in New York City when he was eight years old.[1] His mother Flóra "Florence" Klein (formerly Kovács) was born in Jánd, Hungary. The German name Klein (means: small) is sometimes used informally in Hungarian as Kiss, that gave the rock band's name.[2] Florence and her brother, Larry Klein, were the only members of the family to survive the Holocaust. Simmons' father, Feri Witz, also Hungarian-born, remained in Israel, where he remarried and had one other son and three daughters. Simmons says the family was "dirt poor," scraping by on bread and milk.[3] In the United States, Simmons changed his name to Eugene Klein (later Gene Klein), adopting his mother's maiden name. He attended Yeshiva Torah Vodaath in Williamsburg, Brooklyn as a child, from 7 am to 9:30 pm[4]
Simmons was a supporter of the foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration.[10] He supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq, writing on his website: "I'm ashamed to be surrounded by people calling themselves liberal who are, in my opinion, spitting on the graves of brave American soldiers who gave their life to fight a war that wasn't theirs...in a country they've never been to... simply to liberate the people therein".[11] In a follow-up, Simmons explained his position and wrote about his love and support for the United States: "I wasn't born here. But I have a love for this country and its people that knows no bounds. I will forever be grateful to America for going into World War II, when it had nothing to gain, in a country that was far away... and rescued my mother from the Nazi German concentration camps. She is alive and I am alive because of America. And, if you have a problem with America, you have a problem with me".[11]
During the 2006 Lebanon War between Israel and Lebanon, Simmons sent a televised message of support (in both English and Hebrew) to an Israeli soldier seriously wounded in fighting in Lebanon, calling him his "hero".[12]
In 2010, Simmons said he regretted voting for Barack Obama and criticized the 2009 health care reforms.[13] Following Obama's 2011 Mideast speech, in which the President called on Israel and the Palestinians to negotiate a settlement "based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps,"[14] Simmons told CNBC that Obama was gravely misguided. "If you have never been to the moon, you can't issue policy about the moon. For the president to be sitting in Washington D.C. and saying, 'Go back to your '67 borders in Israel' – how about you live there and try to defend an indefensible border – nine miles wide?" Simmons also accused the United Nations of being "the most pathetic body on the face of the earth."[15]
During his visit to Israel in 2011, he stated that the artists refusing to perform in Israel for political reasons are "stupid," referring to artists who canceled planned concerts in Israel.[16]
I can't even believe some of the comments I'm reading on here. But then again it's the same old America sucks crowd from the same people on here. Some things never change.
A word of warning to all you jaded, politically correct readers out there: This op-ed piece is not for you. Go read the New York Times.
This piece is written by a grateful immigrant. A legal one, but an immigrant nonetheless.
I was born in Haifa, Israel.
I emigrated to America with my mother, Florence, when I was a child. My mother was a survivor of the Nazi Germany concentration camps of World War II. She was in the camps when she was 14 years old.
If it weren’t for America and the brave sacrifices of its military, my mother and millions of others would have perished.
After the war, my mother found her way to Israel.
Life was hard, but in Israel - finally - there was a place where people didn’t try to kill you just because of your religious persuasion. You could breathe fresh, free air and not be afraid to say “I’m a Jew.”
When I was 8 1/2 years old, my mother took me by the hand, and we emigrated to America. The land of the free. The home of the brave. The land of hopes and dreams.
When we landed in New York, I was simply awed by the majesty that is America. The skyscrapers. Television. Streets full of cars. It was too much to take in all at once.
I soon became an unabashed, unapologetic, dyed-in-the-wool American who believes in standing at attention when the Stars and Strips flies at full mast. To this day, I proudly say the Pledge of Allegiance and sing the national anthem. And I am ashamed when some natural-born citizens of America don’t.
That last phrase makes some native-born Americans uneasy. Being patriotic has become politically incorrect. I refuse to succumb to a numb apathy that seems to pervade some elements of the media and pop culture.
For me, it’s all too real. If it weren’t for America, my mother wouldn’t be alive. If it weren’t for America, this world would be in chaos.
Too politically simplistic, you say? Too black-and-white?
Actually, it’s profoundly true, and it’s time for all Americans to proudly recognize those facts.
I want to be blunt about a message to America:
In the Middle East, you have no greater friend, no greater ally - than Israel. It owes its very existence to America.
A simple political message?
I stand by every word of it.
Op-ed pieces from immigrants in newspapers and statements on television are a good idea. Listen to what we have to say. Hear the gratitude and love for America we all share.
Wake up to what we all have to say: America is the greatest country on Earth.
And finally, thank you for making a poor immigrant boy’s dreams come true.
I found this on the Gene Simmons web site.
Godfather.
Yeah it must be bullshit.. I mean who could ever feel this way about America ? :roll:
Chaim Weitz (later Gene Simmons) was born at the Rambam Hospital in Haifa, Israel in 1949. Mother and child emigrated to Jackson Heights, Queens in New York City when he was eight years old.[1] His mother Flóra "Florence" Klein (formerly Kovács) was born in Jánd, Hungary. The German name Klein (means: small) is sometimes used informally in Hungarian as Kiss, that gave the rock band's name.[2] Florence and her brother, Larry Klein, were the only members of the family to survive the Holocaust. Simmons' father, Feri Witz, also Hungarian-born, remained in Israel, where he remarried and had one other son and three daughters. Simmons says the family was "dirt poor," scraping by on bread and milk.[3] In the United States, Simmons changed his name to Eugene Klein (later Gene Klein), adopting his mother's maiden name. He attended Yeshiva Torah Vodaath in Williamsburg, Brooklyn as a child, from 7 am to 9:30 pm[4]
Simmons was a supporter of the foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration.[10] He supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq, writing on his website: "I'm ashamed to be surrounded by people calling themselves liberal who are, in my opinion, spitting on the graves of brave American soldiers who gave their life to fight a war that wasn't theirs...in a country they've never been to... simply to liberate the people therein".[11] In a follow-up, Simmons explained his position and wrote about his love and support for the United States: "I wasn't born here. But I have a love for this country and its people that knows no bounds. I will forever be grateful to America for going into World War II, when it had nothing to gain, in a country that was far away... and rescued my mother from the Nazi German concentration camps. She is alive and I am alive because of America. And, if you have a problem with America, you have a problem with me".[11]
During the 2006 Lebanon War between Israel and Lebanon, Simmons sent a televised message of support (in both English and Hebrew) to an Israeli soldier seriously wounded in fighting in Lebanon, calling him his "hero".[12]
In 2010, Simmons said he regretted voting for Barack Obama and criticized the 2009 health care reforms.[13] Following Obama's 2011 Mideast speech, in which the President called on Israel and the Palestinians to negotiate a settlement "based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps,"[14] Simmons told CNBC that Obama was gravely misguided. "If you have never been to the moon, you can't issue policy about the moon. For the president to be sitting in Washington D.C. and saying, 'Go back to your '67 borders in Israel' – how about you live there and try to defend an indefensible border – nine miles wide?" Simmons also accused the United Nations of being "the most pathetic body on the face of the earth."[15]
During his visit to Israel in 2011, he stated that the artists refusing to perform in Israel for political reasons are "stupid," referring to artists who canceled planned concerts in Israel.[16]
I can't even believe some of the comments I'm reading on here. But then again it's the same old America sucks crowd from the same people on here. Some things never change.
Because supporting the 2006 criminal Israeli invasion of Lebanon and the killing of over 1000 civilians is something to be admired, right?
Also, being opposed to the International consensus of a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders is something to be admired, right?
Also, the people of Iraq haven't been 'liberated'. Their country has been ransacked and turned into a terrorist training camp. 1 million civilians have been killed and approx 5 million made refugees.
As for America going into WWII 'when it has nothing to gain', maybe domination of the Pacific rim, and a piece of the pie of Western Europe after the Germans reversal at Stalingrad may have had something to do with that.
Brynzie I could give a rats ass what you think. I proved that the letter was real and it happened to be written by gene Simmons him self. Yet you go and turn it into one of your little anti-Semitical anti america rants. I may not agree with Simmons,but that's not the point. You and others tried to discredit the letter as it was just made up by someone. How about an apology to godfather?
So I guess the slaughter of 6 million Jews should be applauded right?
Where would you have preferred them to go after ww2? Or I guess in your eyes maybe they should have all been exterminated would that have made you happy?
And so iraq is now a terrorist training camp? I thought there were no terrorist. And I guess Saddam Hussain
Didn't kill and torture his own people.. And didn't his two sons give to charities and help feed the poor? Ooops wrong guys.. They were tyrannical thugs just like their father was. And our military has been rebuilding that country. Why don't you actually tell the truth for once.
Oh and where do you live ? Oh yeah china right.. The place that you can't have more than two children,two girls at that.And what about those forced abortions Brynzie? And what about all those political prisons in china? I hear they are like a sandals resort. And what about Mao se tong? He made hitler and Stalin look like a
joke when it comes to the great leap forward. How come you never speak out about all the human rights violations that china is responsible for?
Brynzie I could give a rats ass what you think. I proved that the letter was real and it happened to be written by gene Simmons him self. Yet you go and turn it into one of your little anti-Semitical anti america rants.
What part of anything I said was anti-Semitic, or Anti-American?
I may not agree with Simmons,but that's not the point. You and others tried to discredit the letter as it was just made up by someone. How about an apology to godfather?
How about you show where I said the letter was made up?
Where would you have preferred them to go after ww2? Or I guess in your eyes maybe they should have all been exterminated would that have made you happy?
Where should the Jews have gone after World War 2?
Michael Neumann: 'The Jews had no claim to Palestine and no right to build a state there. Their growing need for refuge may have provided some limited, inadequate, short-term moral sustenance for the Zionist project, but it could not render that project legitimate. The mere fact of later suffering cannot retroactively convert a wrong into a right: my attempt to usurp your land does not become legitimate simply because I am wrongly beaten by someone else, far away, when my project is near completion. Nor did the well founded desperation of the Jews during the Nazi era provide any justification for Zionism; at most it provided an excuse. If someone is murdering my family in Germany, that does not entitle me to your house in Boston, or my "people" to your country. All Jews fleeing Hitler were indeed entitled to some refuge. One might even suppose that it was the obligation of the whole world, including the Palestinians, to do what they could to provide such refuge. But this is not the whole story.
For one thing, those with ample means to provide refuge, and those who are responsible for the need, have by far the greater share of responsibility. The Palestinians fell into neither category. Even more important, there is an enormous difference between providing refuge and providing a sovereign state. No amount of danger or suffering requires this, and indeed it may conflict with the demand for refuge. Simply to control one's own affairs isn't always the safest alternative. Arguably, for instance, the Jews were safer in the United States, where they are not sovereign, than they ever were in Israel. This is not only a fact but was always a reasonable expectation, so the need for refuge is also no basis for Zionism...
If there are any great lessons to be learned from the Nazi era , they are to watch out for fascism, racism, and ethnic nationalism. Supporting Israel hardly embodies these lessons.'
Not that this has anything to do with the illegal occupation of land stolen during and after the 1967 war.
And so iraq is now a terrorist training camp? I thought there were no terrorist. And I guess Saddam Hussain
Didn't kill and torture his own people.. And didn't his two sons give to charities and help feed the poor? Ooops wrong guys.. They were tyrannical thugs just like their father was. And our military has been rebuilding that country. Why don't you actually tell the truth for once.
Your military hasn't rebuilt Iraq. Your military destroyed Iraq. The country is still fucked today.
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/08/08-3 "Widespread poverty, economic stagnation, lack of opportunities, environmental degradation and an absence of basic services constitute 'silent' human rights violations that affect large sectors of the population.."
Oh and where do you live ? Oh yeah china right.. The place that you can't have more than two children,two girls at that.And what about those forced abortions Brynzie? And what about all those political prisons in china? I hear they are like a sandals resort. And what about Mao se tong? He made hitler and Stalin look like a
joke when it comes to the great leap forward. How come you never speak out about all the human rights violations that china is responsible for?
You sound like a five year old. I've criticized the Chinese government many times on this board. Not that that has anything to do with all the bullshit in that letter of gene Simmons that you seem to have so much respect for.
Comments
Yeah it must be bullshit.. I mean who could ever feel this way about America ? :roll:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Simmons
Chaim Weitz (later Gene Simmons) was born at the Rambam Hospital in Haifa, Israel in 1949. Mother and child emigrated to Jackson Heights, Queens in New York City when he was eight years old.[1] His mother Flóra "Florence" Klein (formerly Kovács) was born in Jánd, Hungary. The German name Klein (means: small) is sometimes used informally in Hungarian as Kiss, that gave the rock band's name.[2] Florence and her brother, Larry Klein, were the only members of the family to survive the Holocaust. Simmons' father, Feri Witz, also Hungarian-born, remained in Israel, where he remarried and had one other son and three daughters. Simmons says the family was "dirt poor," scraping by on bread and milk.[3] In the United States, Simmons changed his name to Eugene Klein (later Gene Klein), adopting his mother's maiden name. He attended Yeshiva Torah Vodaath in Williamsburg, Brooklyn as a child, from 7 am to 9:30 pm[4]
Simmons was a supporter of the foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration.[10] He supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq, writing on his website: "I'm ashamed to be surrounded by people calling themselves liberal who are, in my opinion, spitting on the graves of brave American soldiers who gave their life to fight a war that wasn't theirs...in a country they've never been to... simply to liberate the people therein".[11] In a follow-up, Simmons explained his position and wrote about his love and support for the United States: "I wasn't born here. But I have a love for this country and its people that knows no bounds. I will forever be grateful to America for going into World War II, when it had nothing to gain, in a country that was far away... and rescued my mother from the Nazi German concentration camps. She is alive and I am alive because of America. And, if you have a problem with America, you have a problem with me".[11]
During the 2006 Lebanon War between Israel and Lebanon, Simmons sent a televised message of support (in both English and Hebrew) to an Israeli soldier seriously wounded in fighting in Lebanon, calling him his "hero".[12]
In 2010, Simmons said he regretted voting for Barack Obama and criticized the 2009 health care reforms.[13] Following Obama's 2011 Mideast speech, in which the President called on Israel and the Palestinians to negotiate a settlement "based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps,"[14] Simmons told CNBC that Obama was gravely misguided. "If you have never been to the moon, you can't issue policy about the moon. For the president to be sitting in Washington D.C. and saying, 'Go back to your '67 borders in Israel' – how about you live there and try to defend an indefensible border – nine miles wide?" Simmons also accused the United Nations of being "the most pathetic body on the face of the earth."[15]
During his visit to Israel in 2011, he stated that the artists refusing to perform in Israel for political reasons are "stupid," referring to artists who canceled planned concerts in Israel.[16]
I can't even believe some of the comments I'm reading on here. But then again it's the same old America sucks crowd from the same people on here. Some things never change.
Because supporting the 2006 criminal Israeli invasion of Lebanon and the killing of over 1000 civilians is something to be admired, right?
Also, being opposed to the International consensus of a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders is something to be admired, right?
Also, the people of Iraq haven't been 'liberated'. Their country has been ransacked and turned into a terrorist training camp. 1 million civilians have been killed and approx 5 million made refugees.
As for America going into WWII 'when it has nothing to gain', maybe domination of the Pacific rim, and a piece of the pie of Western Europe after the Germans reversal at Stalingrad may have had something to do with that.
So I guess the slaughter of 6 million Jews should be applauded right?
Where would you have preferred them to go after ww2? Or I guess in your eyes maybe they should have all been exterminated would that have made you happy?
And so iraq is now a terrorist training camp? I thought there were no terrorist. And I guess Saddam Hussain
Didn't kill and torture his own people.. And didn't his two sons give to charities and help feed the poor? Ooops wrong guys.. They were tyrannical thugs just like their father was. And our military has been rebuilding that country. Why don't you actually tell the truth for once.
Oh and where do you live ? Oh yeah china right.. The place that you can't have more than two children,two girls at that.And what about those forced abortions Brynzie? And what about all those political prisons in china? I hear they are like a sandals resort. And what about Mao se tong? He made hitler and Stalin look like a
joke when it comes to the great leap forward. How come you never speak out about all the human rights violations that china is responsible for?
What part of anything I said was anti-Semitic, or Anti-American?
How about you show where I said the letter was made up?
Are you on drugs?
Where should the Jews have gone after World War 2?
Michael Neumann:
'The Jews had no claim to Palestine and no right to build a state there. Their growing need for refuge may have provided some limited, inadequate, short-term moral sustenance for the Zionist project, but it could not render that project legitimate. The mere fact of later suffering cannot retroactively convert a wrong into a right: my attempt to usurp your land does not become legitimate simply because I am wrongly beaten by someone else, far away, when my project is near completion. Nor did the well founded desperation of the Jews during the Nazi era provide any justification for Zionism; at most it provided an excuse. If someone is murdering my family in Germany, that does not entitle me to your house in Boston, or my "people" to your country. All Jews fleeing Hitler were indeed entitled to some refuge. One might even suppose that it was the obligation of the whole world, including the Palestinians, to do what they could to provide such refuge. But this is not the whole story.
For one thing, those with ample means to provide refuge, and those who are responsible for the need, have by far the greater share of responsibility. The Palestinians fell into neither category. Even more important, there is an enormous difference between providing refuge and providing a sovereign state. No amount of danger or suffering requires this, and indeed it may conflict with the demand for refuge. Simply to control one's own affairs isn't always the safest alternative. Arguably, for instance, the Jews were safer in the United States, where they are not sovereign, than they ever were in Israel. This is not only a fact but was always a reasonable expectation, so the need for refuge is also no basis for Zionism...
If there are any great lessons to be learned from the Nazi era , they are to watch out for fascism, racism, and ethnic nationalism. Supporting Israel hardly embodies these lessons.'
Not that this has anything to do with the illegal occupation of land stolen during and after the 1967 war.
Your military hasn't rebuilt Iraq. Your military destroyed Iraq. The country is still fucked today.
Iraq Travel Advice: http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-liv ... frica/iraq
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/08/08-3
"Widespread poverty, economic stagnation, lack of opportunities, environmental degradation and an absence of basic services constitute 'silent' human rights violations that affect large sectors of the population.."
You sound like a five year old. I've criticized the Chinese government many times on this board. Not that that has anything to do with all the bullshit in that letter of gene Simmons that you seem to have so much respect for.
Only a moron completely ignorant of history.